What had been seemingly a moribund Flames powerplay came to life in the middle of the third period in last night's crucial 3-2 victory, thanks in big part to Burrows.

With the Flames holding the momentum and already on the man-advantage, Burrows knocked the Canucks net off its moorings to give the Flames the boost they needed to get over the top.

While the Flames were enjoying a five-on-three powerplay, Daymond Langkow redirected a perfect pass from Tanguay to draw the hosts even, and -- with Burrows still in the sin bin -- Dion Phaneuf netted the game-winner 41 seconds later.

"We'd just killed off a five-on-three (when I knocked the net off its moorings) -- I didn't think he was gonna call it," Burrows said. "We kinda bumped, and I followed through there."

Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault didn't cut Burrows any slack either, and the bench boss didn't stop there when voicing his displeasure over the penalty parade that ignited the Flames to the victory and vaulted them into top spot in the Northwest Division.

"It makes no sense -- the referee's looking at you," said Vigneault, who watched his team flagged for three penalties in a 135-second span. "The too many men (which started the stream of infractions), I called Mo's name (Brendan Morrison), and Hank (Henrik Sedin) stepped on the ice.

"I don't know what happened there."

For the Flames, what happened was their powerplay finally came to life.

After going 0-for-5 the night before in the 2-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche and failing to click on the first five opportunities last night, the man-advantage units made the difference.

"It was a big goal for us to get that," Phaneuf said. "You don't change things. You might modify a thing here or there but keep plugging away getting pucks on net.

"Luckily, Tangs made a great play getting the puck in front of the net to Langer, because he's one of the best in the league when it comes to tipping pucks and getting a stick on it.

"He made no mistake."

It was a set play, actually, said Tanguay, who practically used Langkow's stick to make a bank-shot.

"We've tried it before. It's such a tough play for the goaltender," Tanguay said. "I've got the puck and have all kinds of options -- Dion at the point, Iggy (Jarome Iginla) at the point, Owen (Nolan) on the other side.

"So if I can just get it to Daymond quick, I don't think he has much of a chance to react to it.

"Daymond was ready for it and made a great deflection.

"We had a five-on-three earlier, and it's definitely frustrating to not score. When you have five-on-threes this time of year, you want to capitalize on them.